The ONLY WAY To Combat The Lack Of Funding In Arts Education Is For Professionals To Take A Few Hours

Character Details to Hide from Your Readers

Hiding information from your readers on purpose will help you create tension in your novel. I know this doesn’t work for every novel, but if you’re writing something with elements of suspense and mystery, hiding details and revealing them later will improve your story. This also helps add dimensions to your characters and explore their motivations on a deeper level.

Here are a few things to hide about your characters to create tension:

Whether or not your protagonist is lying

Even good characters lie, especially if they feel like it will protect other people in the long run. There are ways to hint that your character is hiding the truth without actually revealing what the truth is. If your protagonist gets nervous or changes the subject when they’re asked about a specific detail, this will help show your readers that something isn’t quite right. If your character’s deception is hidden and then revealed at the right time, you’ll be able to add exciting tension and shock value to your story.

Who the real villain is

Some of the best tension is created when we’re uncertain about who the real villain is. In mystery/crime novels, for example, there’s often evidence that points to one person who ends up not really being the one we need to worry about. If you hide this information from your readers, you keep them guessing throughout the course of your novel and this will aid in creating suspense.

The truth about their past

When you hide your character’s past from your readers, you have the ability to use it as an explanation for something important later on. For example, if you character has these mysterious powers they can’t explain, you can use their parents and back story in order to reveal later on why it’s happening. Revealing past details slowly over the course of your novel helps build the mystery.

What their secondary goals are

Sometimes characters will have goals no one else knows about but them OR they will have a false goal that their using to cover up their real goal. For example, a character might say they’re rescuing another character because they want to help, but it really might be all about finding some hidden treasure along the way. There are many reasons why a character might want to hide their goals. Explore character motivations on a deeper level and you’ll be able to realistically include this type of deception in your story.

-Kris Noel 

11 Self-Defense Techniques (That Even A Child Could Use)

“People don’t understand the word ruthless. They think it means ‘mean.’ It’s not about being mean. It’s about seeing the bright, clear line that leads from A to B. The line that goes from motive to means. Beginning to end. It’s about seeing that bright, clear line and not caring about anything but the beautiful fact that you can see the solution. Not caring about anything else but the perfection of it.”

— Marco, Animorphs #30: The Reunion, pg. 71 (by K.A. Applegate)

Bloggers who are struggling with hate asks

I know there are so many bloggers out there who are dealing with haters, especially the more popular ones. But I personally see this as a good sign, because it means you are gaining popularity? Plus, hate messages are usually funny to me bcs they make no sense whatsoever. It's usually like "your blog sucks" or "no one likes you". Like uhhh okay?? 😂 Yet you took time to look at my blog, how ironic🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️.

To haters: Pls feel free to send those bcs I love sarcasm ♡♡♡♡ or if you have nerve to dm me, please do that too ♡

Difference between Hate and Criticism

In my definition, hate is more like random msg with no proof or reason. It's totally emotional thing, whether you are feeling jealous, angry or whatever. Hates doesn't mean they ACTUALLY hate your content. They might be just having a bad day, and want to vent their stress online. Hate messages are STILL VERY wrong. The words you mindlessly throw, can hurt others (unless you are weird like me who laugh at those hate messages). If you are just having a stressful day, find another way to vent your stress- not by hurting others. Go do something productive or go have a talk with someone close. Stay AWAY from social media if you are just online to send random hate messages.

Criticism on the other hand, has reason. It's just not simple "your blog sucks". It might NOT always be logical or reasonable. Opinions/reasons can be totally biased, but it does have reason of some sort lol. So instead of just saying "your blog sucks", it will have something like "your blog sucks because......" Criticism can be seen as one form of feedback, but it's up to you whether you will take that piece of opinion or not.

So please, dont just send "I hate your blog" and say it was a valid criticism lol. No that's not criticism, that's straight out hate.

I know there has been a few of complaints in the past about things I post. I personally get really irritated when those get sent through ask. It's nothing personal towards you. If you have constructional criticism about my blog (not just "your blog sucks" but with reason and points), which bother majority of the people in this fandom, please dm me, not through ask. If you send through ask, more chances are I will get annoyed and give you only a reply that you don't wanna hear lol. If you dm though, there is a way to communicate- so more chance for compromising (I said chance for a reason). However, if it annoys you personally, pls just unfollow or block.

My point is that, bloggers shouldn't feel discouraged because of haters. Because 1) its saying that you gained that much fame. 2) They might actually like your blog because they are checking on your blog frequently just to trashtalk LOL (pls go find a better hobby).

Never be depressed by hate messages. Haters want to see you sad. Don't give what they want.

Stay strong bloggers♡

If anyone is struggling with hate ask, and dont know how to answer- feel free to dm me.

WELP! I guess I have to watch out for this unrepentant bird while I sleep tonight.

Samurai Love Ballad Party - Ieyasu Tokugawa & Hideyoshi Toyotomi                  

They aren’t smiling with their eyes … T^T  (Click to enlarge the image)

**please do not upload anywhere else - ask for permission thanks**                                                                                                                         

Oh, Anon tsk tsk tsk 🤦‍♀🤷‍♀🤷‍♂🤦‍♂

You shipping reylo is ok but you writing anything is not. Have you read your own writing? That Secret Santa fic was such a trash, even the garbage men won't want to pick it up. People have talents, but you certainly don't have that for writing or anything. Good thing you seem like your a rich girl and there are things you can afford but forcing yourself to write? Just give it up already. Met us all have a good Christmas. Spare us!!!!

Hello! Thank you for your feedback and thank you for taking the time to read the fic I wrote even if you thought it was trash. As far as writing is concerned, I never said I was any good at it but I certainly think I'm not that atrocious. Thank you for being a fan and for being concerned about my well-being. I wish you a Happy Christmas and hope that you continue to give me feedback on whatever it is I do because you seem to know better and I really respect your wise counsel. 💕

Love and light. 💕

Writing vs Storytelling Skills: Improving Storytelling

Though “writing skill” is often used to refer to all aspects of story crafting, it can be divided into ‘storytelling concepts’ and the ‘actual writing’. Addressed in the previous post: Writing vs Storytelling Skills (link embedded), now I’m here to tell you how to work on that specific storytelling skill.

1. Read a variety of books. Various authors, various genres, the more you expand your examples the better. Variation of reading means you’ll be exposed to more ideas, more ways of thought, more storytelling patterns, more everything that you can critique and help make decisions on how your own stories will unfold. Even take up books you may not like. Give them a chance, and if you still don’t like them then at least be able to explain why.

2. Learn genre expectations (and that tropes aren’t bad). Genres exist to classify stories into familiar concepts. Sometimes, novice writers try to throw out genre ideas because they’re all “cliche” or they want “something different”, yet they fail to grasp why those patterns exist in the first place. Familiar storytelling concepts (tropes) can be cliches, yes, but more often they fulfill one or more of these requirements:

A way to fast-track info to the reader without having to explain every ounce of meaning (Color-coded symbolism, character archetypes, etc.)

To create a familiar base, allowing for further growth of the concept with less time than it would have taken to set up something new. 

Promises to fulfill a certain type of story (You can’t say you want to write a romance, but with no romance)

Those things only become cliche when executed poorly or if they cause predictability when the story is trying to rely on unpredictability. A story full of tropes is not automatically a bad story. Writing in a way that subverts expectations well requires having a strong understanding of the genre you’re trying to twist. A genre is a promise of a specific type of narrative– you can’t just throw it out the window and expect readers to be satisfied. It’s fine to write cross-genre or mess with tropes, but be wary of it coming from a place of “it’s all the same so I’m going to do it completely different!”.

By learning genre expectations, you can gain that knowledge that lets you subvert better, or the knowledge to play into it better. You can figure out where the true heart of the stories are and why readers care. You can figure out how to write in a genre that works with your personal goals and desires for the story. 

3. Learn best practices for different storytelling mediums. “I saw this awesome scene on TV and I want to write it in my story, so I imagined how it’s going to play out and it’ll be perfect!” No, it won’t, because what works in visual media isn’t the same for books and what works in your head isn’t a clear idea of how it would work on paper. (link embedded)

TV, and other forms of visual media, are presented very differently than the written word. They can rely on music, camera angles, subtle background events– and endless list of things that writing cannot replicate and isn’t made to. Becoming a better storyteller means learning the strengths and weaknesses of different media so you can tailor stories to best fit how they’ll be told. The imagination is similar to visual media, but better and worse. Better, because you can learn over time how to tailor your imagination for the written word. Worse, because it can create unrealistic expectations and is harder to look past.

It’s natural to want to mimic what you see in other forms of storytelling, but one of the most important things a writer can learn is to get over the fact that they can’t translate ideas in every situation. It’s fine to be inspired by other forms of storytelling and what your imagination creates, but don’t become a slave to the unrealistic expectations. Learn to work with the paper, not against it.

4. Stress test plot ideas to catch issues before they become a problem. While this isn’t going to always work and there will still be times that you have to adjust in the middle of things, stress testing your ideas can help teach you where you keep going wrong so you can work on fixing it. There are two main things to keep in mind when doing this:

The plot structure (link embedded): Overarching plot concepts should fit into a specific structure. The structure can have small variations, but there should be an average line of best fit that naturally overlays against the story. The higher your skill, the more you can mess with the lines and have it not blow up in your face.

Plot is essentially cause-and-effect (link embedded): The events of a plot should be a relatively smooth slide from start to finish. Not “smooth” as in “no conflict or tension”, “smooth” as in “logically glides from one point to another”. Make sure you can connect the dots.

If you catch and fix enough of your own mistakes then you can start teaching yourself not to make them. 

5. Critique the storytelling of others. What did you like? What didn’t you like? What choices did the writer make and what were the consequences of those choices? I’m going to repeat that last one again because it’s one of the most important things a writer can learn: Every story is made from a set of choices and those choices have consequences. Not all bad, not all good; it’s a neutral term that just refers to outcomes. One of the biggest separators of storytelling skill is how well a writer can work with the natural consequences of their choices. 

When you critique others, you look at those consequences and weigh them against what you consider to be a “good story”. While a writer can only critique at a close level to their skill, the more they critique, the higher skill climbs, and the better they get. To become a better storyteller, you should get used to tearing other’s, and your own, work apart. It can help to keep a journal or some kind of record of critiques, since writing thoughts down helps bridge the gap between the mind’s assumptions and reality (just like the bridge between an imagined scene and actually writing it down).

6. Brush up on literary concepts. They’re not just for English class! While some are more technical in nature, there are plenty of storytelling-inclined literary techniques that gaining a better understanding of can improve your own work. Also, literary concepts are just tropes that happen to apply to “work of literary merit”. They’re not fancy or pretentious to include– just study and practice them well so they work with your story rather than against it. (Study tropes too!)

All that said, there’s no such thing as a “perfect storyteller”. Brushing up on storytelling skills isn’t about being perfect, it’s about getting better relative to where you were before (and potentially helping close the gap between writing and storytelling skills). 

Keep writing, keep practicing– keep storytelling.

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the suffering never ends